For the Admirals, this is the first appearance in the final in the 28-year history of the franchise. The club, which began operation in Kingsville in 1987-88 before moving to Amherstburg two years ago, has only made the league semifinals eight times.

“They have a five-star pedigree and we’re the ones trying to make a mark,” Admirals first-year head coach Paul Bortignon said. “Some would say we’re the underdog and say we don’t have a chance, but we’ve battled all year and it’s been a pretty tight series.”

With 13 new faces in the lineup, many thought it would be a battle for 73’s to get to this point, but Essex took top spot in the regular season and has swept two playoff rounds.

“If you had asked me at the start of the year, yeah it does (surprise me),” 73’s general manager Scott Miller said. “At training camp, we knew we’d lost a lot. We replaced 13 players, had five rookie defencemen and two rookie goals.

“When you start like that, it looks like you’re rebuilding, but the young kids stepped up and the veterans we had showed great leadership.”

There are plenty of ties between the two clubs. Goalie Arren Romeril won a pair of titles with the 73’s before being dealt to the Admirals last season while defenceman Curtis Prymack also won a title with Essex before landing in Amherstburg.

“To be honest, it’s definitely bittersweet,” said Romeril, who has a 2.63 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in eight playoff games. “It wouldn’t matter who we faced in the final; I just wanted t get there.”

Romeril is also an Amherstburg native and there are plenty of familiar faces on the Essex roster.

“Romeril’s been one of my best friends for a long time, and I have a few buddies over there, but when the skates go on it’s all business,” said 73’s alternate captain Jordan Ryan, who is one of five players on the Essex roster that call Amherstburg home.

“A lot of friends, family and neighbours will be coming out and hopefully the majority are cheering for me.”

Essex won three of the five meetings between the two with the 73’s getting a win in a shootout and Amherstburg getting another in overtime.

“I think it’s going to be a great final,” said Ryan, who led Essex in scoring in the regular season and has five goals and nine points in eight playoff games.

The Admirals like to skate while the 73’s play a very structured style.

“Whatever top guys produce, that’s going to be the team there at the end,” Bortignon said. They’re a puck-possession team and they’ll run their systems and it’s worked for so long.

“We like to get up and down the ice as quick as possible. If we can use speed to our advantage, that will give us the upper hand. If they can stick to their systems, it’ll be tough and we’ll have to find another way to generate some offence.”

The other problem the Admirals will have to deal with is Essex’s playoff experience.

“Playoff hockey is a completely different type of hockey,” Ryan said. “We had a slump at the end of the season and lost a couple games.

“We got together and explained that in the playoffs anyone can win and you have to step up. In the (dressing) room, it helps immensely when you’ve got guys in the room for the first time for someone to follow and I believe the bond we share in room is second to none.”

Romeril has done his best to try and provide the same with the Admirals.

“I’ve definitely been down this road and I’ve tried to talk to the guys that there’s so much ore hockey to be played,” Romeril said. “It’s one of those things where it’s our time to prove we’re not a fluke team. We’ve got to get the job done.”

WHO: No. 1 Essex 73’s (35-5-1-1, 8-0-0) vs. No. 2 Amherstburg Admirals (25-12-2-1, 8-2-0)WHAT Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League finalFORMAT: Best-of-seven seriesSEASON SERIES: Essex won three-of-five meetingsESSEX HOME GAMES: Game 1 is Tuesday at the Essex Centre Sports Complex at p.m., Game 3 is Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Game 5 is March 10 at 7 p.m. (if necessary) and Game 7 is March 15 at 2:30 p.m.(if necessary).AMHERSTBURG HOME GAMES: Game 2 is Wednesday at the Libro Centre at 7:30 p.m., Game 4 is Sunday at 7 p.m. and Game 6 is March 13 at 7 p.m. (if necessary).TICKETS: 73’s home games are $10 adults, $8 seniors (55 and over), students (with ID) and $6 for youths. Canadiens home games are $10 adults, $8 seniors (55 and over) and students (age 13 to 17) and $6 for youths.

The Windsor Spitfires’ continue to struggle in their late-season push for a playoff spot.

The Spitfires suffered their eighth loss in the last 11 games as the club fell 4-2 to the Sarnia Sting Sunday at the WFCU Centre before 6,034, which is the second-largest home crowd of the season.

“They’re big and a little more physical than us,” Spitfires overage centre Slater Doggett said. “We play our best hockey when we’re the most physical team.”

Game recap
Windsor opened the game scoring in the second period on a power-play goal by Hayden McCool, but the Sting needed less than two minutes to tie it on a power-play goal by Jakob Chychrun. Stephen Pierog poked home a loose puck to put the Sting up 2-1 after 40 minutes.

Doggett pulled Windsor even 35 seconds into the third period when he centred the puck from behind the Sarnia net and it bounced in.

Sarnia again answered as Davis Brown was left all alone in front to score the eventual game-winning goal and Pavel Zacha added an insurance goal to close the scoring.

“When we get tied, we have to keep going and bear down,” Doggett said.

Murphy out
Spitfires defenceman Trevor Murphy sat the first game of a five-game league suspension for violating the OHL’s harassment and diversity policy for a comment made during Friday’s game in Sault Ste. Marie.

“It’s a huge difference when (Murphy) is back there,” Doggett said. “Murphy’s a point-a-game guy and you have to be pretty special to do that.”

Defensive scheme
For the third-straight game, the Spitfires employed a one-three-one defensive scheme that clogged up the neutral zone, but the club generated just 10 shots on offence in the first 40 minutes of the game.

“Yes and no,” Spitfires forward Lucas Venuto said when asked if it limits the team’s offence. “We’re able to squeeze teams out along the boards and we can counter, but we didn’t get enough shots.”

Sting record
Sunday’s win gave the Sting back-to-back wins for the first time since the sale of the club to Derian Hatcher and David Legwand was announced Jan. 22. Sarnia is now 5-11-1-1 since the sale.

“We weren’t really on it tonight when it was a really big game,” said Spitfires goalie Alex Fotinos, who made 46 saves. “We didn’t get enough out there offensively and they’re a really good offensive team.”

Missed chance
A win Sunday would have put the Spitfires in sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Instead, the Spitfires remain tied with Saginaw for the final playoff spot and the Plymouth Whalers have moved to within two points of that position. All three teams have nine game remaining.

“It’s going to be a very tight race,” Fotinos said. “We really need some points, but the good thing is we’re not out of it.”

Next up
The Spitfires are off until Thursday when the No. 3-ranked Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds come to the WFCU Centre. Game time is 7:05 p.m.

]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/spitfires-fall-4-2-at-home-to-sting/feed0Windsor's Anthony Stefano, left, is checked by Sarnia's Pavel Zacha during the second period Sunday, March 1, 2015 at the WFCU Centre. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)jpparker88Updated: Murphy suspended five games for violating OHL diversity policyhttp://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/murphy-suspended-five-games-for-violating-ohl-diversity-policy
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/murphy-suspended-five-games-for-violating-ohl-diversity-policy#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 01:00:10 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=446668]]>Windsor Spitfires defenceman Trevor Murphy was suspended by the Ontario Hockey League Saturday for violating the league’s harassment and diversity policy for a comment made during Friday’s game against the Soo Greyhounds in Sault Ste. Marie.

Goetz was given a five-minute major and game misconduct on the play and handed a two-game suspension by the league Saturday.

Linesman Marcus Policicchio then reported Murphy’s comments to the game referees, who subsequently handed Murphy a game misconduct. The five-game suspension is the minimum length for violating the league policy.

“Any type of verbiage that contravenes our policy won’t be tolerated,” said OHL vice-president Ted Baker, who would not say what offensive term was spoken. “Our policy is not to disclose what the player said. We don’t think it serves any purpose to say what was said.”

The 19-year-old Murphy is eligible to return March 14 when the Spitfires face the Otters in Erie. Windsor dropped their first game without Murphy Sunday, a 4-2 loss against Sarnia.

“I’m going to sit my suspension and hopefully the guys can pull together and win a couple of games and I can come back stronger,” said Murphy, who is a Sun County minor hockey product and leads the team in scoring with 21 goals and 59 points in 54 games.

The Spitfires released a statement after Sunday’s game that in part said, “During the course of any given game, things are often said among players in the heat of competition. But we understand the league’s policy on language is clear and we accept its decision.

“Having said that, given the nature of our busy upcoming schedule and the playoff race, we need to move on from this and focus on the final three weeks of the regular season.

“The team will have no further comment on the issue at this point or during media sessions this week.”

The OHL’s harassment and diversity policy was put into place prior to the 2003-04 season as an updated and expanded form of the league’s harassment and abuse policy.

While Baker would not disclose Murphy’s remarks, he did say, “I can confirm it was not a racial slur.”

Baker said the league policy is in every team’s manager’s manual and players are informed about it prior to each season.

“The players, through risk management, are taken through the language before the season as well as a number of other policies,” Baker said.

Earlier this season, Peterborugh Petes forward Greg Betzold and the Belleville Bulls captain Jake Marchment were suspended 15 games each for vulgar and abusive language used toward women on the dating app Tinder.

Baker would not compare Murphy’s verbal comment warranting the league-minimum five games while Goetz’s physical act on Stefano only resulted in a two-game suspension.

“I won’t judge what others think if one is more harmful,” Baker said. “There are those in society that would consider words more hurtful then slew footing. You can’t compare the two. One is a physical action that has a minimum (penalty). The other is words or phrases that won’t be tolerated.”

Baker said he spoke with Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner Saturday prior to handing down the suspension.

“I spoke to Bob Boughner around noon (Saturday) and there wasn’t any dispute,” Baker said. “Bob defended his player, but he supports the policy and it’s just unfortunate that arguably his best player got caught up in something.”

Windsor went up a goal 91 seconds into the second period, but the Greyhounds countered with the game’s next five goals to take control of the game.

“They’re a really good team,” said Spitfires rookie goalie Brendan Johnston, who made 41 saves. “A team like that finds a way to win and we just didn’t.”

Game recap: Slater Doggett put Windsor on the board first when he centred a puck from behind the Sault Ste. Marie net and it bounced in off of Greyhounds goaltender Brandon Halverson.

Greyhounds defenceman Anthony DeAngelo tucked home his own rebound to tie the game at 1-1 after 40 minutes.

Zachary Senyshyn, Jared McCann, DeAngelo and Jean Dupuy made it 5-1 for Sault Ste. Marie before Cristiano DiGiacinto and Logan Brown added late goals for Windsor.

“It’s frustrating because I thought we played hard for 40 minutes, but it was different game when (Trevor) Murphy went out,” Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner said.

Murphy tossed: With the game tied at 1-1, Murphy was given a game misconduct in the second period for what on-ice officials called a discriminatory slur made to someone on the Sault Ste. Marie bench.

“Words were exchanged,” Murphy admitted. “I have no idea (about the penalty), literally.”

The incident happened during the stoppage of play when the Greyhounds Keigan Goetz was being given a game misconduct for a slew footing major on Windsor’s Anthony Stefano. Both Murphy and Goetz face league suspensions.

“It was trash talking, like all games,” Boughner said of the incident. “You could call 10 of those a game if you wanted to. It’s a very touchy thing at this time of the year.”

Hobbled Hounds: Sault Ste. Marie was missing five regulars from its lineup Friday.

Corey Bellemore, Alex Ullman, Brandon Wilhelm, Jesse Drennan and Matt Brisson each have multiple-medal potential at the event, but the Lancers also have some first-year competitors set to contribute early in their university career.

Freshman Angelo Bortolin is seeded second in the men’s triple jump and is expected to score in the top eight in the men’s long jump.

“No, I didn’t expect that at all this early,” Lancers head coach said of Bortolin, who is a Holy Names high school graduate. “He was at 12 metres early in the season and Brett (Lumley) brought him along slowly and he’s developed lately.”

The six-foot-four, 175-pound Bortolin had a breakout at Hillsdale College jumping 14.71 metres, which was 80 centimetres better than his previous best and put him No. 3 in Canada.

“I’ve wanted to jump over 14 metres for a long time,” said Bortolin, who was an OFSAA bronze medallist last year. “I was happy after that, but I still keep pushing myself.

“Everyone tells me I can do more. I was talking to some people from other schools (at the Team Challenge meet in Windsor) and they were surprised I jumped 14.71 and that I could jump that big.”

He’s hoping to continue the success at the OUA championship where Windsor will try to defend its team title.

“I’m really excited,” Bortolin said. “It’s kind of a new experience for me.

“There’s more of a team aspect here. In high school, we didn’t aim for team points to win the meet. It makes it more exciting. I’m hoping to put up points to on the board for Windsor.”

Fairall also thinks freshman Chris Kramer could contribute at the meet in the men’s 300 metres.

“I’m hoping he could be top six, but I wouldn’t be surprise if he medalled,” Fairall said of Kramer. “We’ve got those front enders on the men’s side and I’m hoping we can defend. That’s always the goal.”

The OUA has the top four ranked men’s team in the CIS top 10 and five of the top six. It’s also tough on the women’s side with four of the top five ranked teams and five of the top seven with the Lancers ranked No. 7.

“The women, I’m hoping are top four, but we’re ranked fifth,” Fairall said. “We’re really young there, but we could be very good in a couple of years.”

]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/lancers-freshman-bortolin-aims-for-track-repeat/feed0The University of Windsor Lancers Corey Bellemore leads the pack in the men's 600m at the OUA Track and Field meet at the St. Denis Centre in Windsor on Friday, February 22, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE / The Windsor Star)jpparker88Video: Murphy leads Spitfires over Ottawa 4-3http://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/spitfires-rally-to-beat-67s-in-overtime
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/spitfires-rally-to-beat-67s-in-overtime#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 03:57:24 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=445909]]>

What looked like another home defeat for the Windsor Spitfires was turned into a victory in a matter of seconds Thursday.

With the goalie on the bench for an extra attacker, Lucas Venuto forced overtime when his point shot found the back of the net with just under a minute left in regulation.

Trevor Murphy’s shot from along the boards found the back of the net 35 seconds in overtime and the Spitfires pulled out a 4-3 win over the Ottawa 67’s before 5,516 at the WFCU Centre and snap the club’s two-game losing streak at home.

“This win feels really good,” Spitfires goalie Alex Fotinos said. “I think that’s the first time this season we’ve scored with the goalie on the bench.”

Game recap
Cristiano DiGiacinto finished off a two-on-one after an Ottawa turnover to put the Spitfires on the board first and Murphy stretched the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal.

Travis Konecny got the 67’s within 2-1 after the first period with a goal just 64 seconds after Murphy scored.

Ottawa got even when a pass by defenceman Alex Lintuniemi deflected off the stick of Windsor centre Jamie Lewis. Jacob Middleton scored before the four-minute mark on an Ottawa power play to put the 67’s up.

Venuto got the equalizer setting up Murphy’s winner, which hit an Ottawa player in front and bounced in.

“It’s a sigh of relief for sure,” said Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner, whose team again pulled even with Saginaw for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.. “We’ll take it. At this time of the year, you take points any way you can get them.”

Murphy’s mark
With his first goal Thursday, Murphy became the first Spitfires defenceman to score 20 goals in a season since Ryan Ellis posted 24 in 2010-11.

“I think that’s my first (OHL) multi-goal game,” Murphy said.

Ellis led the team in scoring that season and Murphy is on pace to do the same with a team-leading 21 goals and 59 points in 53 games.

“I set some goals at the start of the season an I’ve reached those goals,” Murphy said. “Now, it’s time to set new goals.”

Overtime shine
Thursday’s comeback gave the Spitfires their league-leading eighth win in overtime.

The club has picked up 25 of a possible 28 points in extra time with three other wins coming in shootouts while dropping two games in overtime and one in a shootout.

“The two points is all that matters,” Murphy said.

Doggett triple
Overage centre Slater Doggett assisted on the first three Windsor goals.

It was Doggett’s 12th multi-point game this season and fifth in the last 10 games. Doggett has set new career highs with 19 goals and 41 points in 46 games.

St. Clair’s Peter Christian spikes a shot during practice in preparation for Friday’s game against Durham at St. Clair’s SportPlex. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

Harrow’s Jason Hernandez can feel the excitement building.

The OCAA men’s volleyball championship is set to start Friday at the St. Clair SportsPlex and the Saints are anxious to hit the floor.

“How can’t you be excited,” Hernandez said. “This team is going to OC(AA)’s and hosting. The hype around the school is starting to amp up now.”

The top eight teams in the OCAA are set to compete for gold with the top two also earning a trip to nationals next month in Prince Edward Island.

“I think we have a legitimate chance,” Hernandez said. “I think everyone would be happy with a medal, but I think we have a chance of being one of those top two teams and we have the team to do it.”

The Saints didn’t get an easy draw for quarter-final action and will face the Durham Lords, who are ranked No. 5 nationally and posted an 18-0 record in the regular season. The game will get underway at 8 p.m.

“A very formidable opponent,” Saints head coach Rob Lynch said.

St. Clair has had success against Durham this season. While Durham is unbeaten in league play, the Saints beat them in two straight sets to win a tournament hosted by the Lords in October.

“Hopefully, that’s in the back of Durham’s mind,” Lynch said. “I know it was earlier in the year, but we have to build off of that.”

The Saints dropped their final three matches to finish 12-6 on the season, but Lynch feels a two-week break has been good for his team.

“We had a little breakdown at the end,” Lynch said. “It’s a long season and guys are trying to keep pace from what they did at the beginning of the season.

“We’ve regrouped and seem focused. We have some guys that have to bail us out. It will come through Connor West or Jason at the end.”

In his fifth and final year of eligibility, this is not Hernandez’s first trip to the final eight.

“I played three years at Senaca and they hosted my last year,” Hernandez said. “Out of the five years, I think this is the team with the most depth I’ve been part of.

“This is a little different atmosphere. The big thing for us is our passing. If we pass well, we can run all our offensive weapons.”

Hernandez is also looking for a boost from the home crowd.

“We have all our friends, our family and the school’s behind us and cheering for us,” Hernandez said. “You go away and their fans cheer and get in your ear and can get you off your game and now maybe our fans will be doing that to them.”

The club is commemorating 40 seasons in the Ontario Hockey League by honouring each decade throughout the season.

The 2005-15 decade is up for Thursday’s game against the Ottawa 67’s at the WFCU Centre, but pulling in former players is tricky for the 7:05 p.m. game.

“We see a lot of the guys in the summer, which is good, but during the season it’s tough to get some guys back,” Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner said.

“I guess that’s one good thing about the last decade is you can’t get a hold of guys. They’re pursuing their dream of playing pro still or working full time, using their school packages or starting families. That’s what it’s all about.”

A couple of fan favourites will make it to the game. Windsor native Ryan Baldwin will make the game. He was dealt to Oshawa in 2008-09 in deal that eventually landed Justin Shugg and Dale Mitchell as key pieces of the back-to-back Memorial Cup teams.

Baldwin is now working for Windsor Truck and Storage.

“We’re moving and he was in our house with a clipboard giving us a quote,” Boughner said. “There’s a lot of success stories like that.

“(Ron) Soucie is coaching (in Leamington), (Harry) Young is at police college, Ben Shutron is working for Hockey Canada. (Derek) Lanoue’s going to university and Wally (Adam Wallace) went into trades and is coaching in Woodstock.”

Wallace will make the trek down in time for the game.

“I was able to get some time off,” said Wallace, who is an HVAC technician. “It’s been a couple years since I’ve been down to watch a game.”

The 24-year-old Wallace picked up 354 penalty minutes in 121 games and won two Memorial Cups. He admits the new OHL, which has brought in more restrictions on fighting since his playing days, would have made life tougher for him.

“I’d have a few suspensions,” he said.

Aside from working Wallace has also gotten into coaching and in his first full season with the Woodstock Navy Vets was named the Midwestern Junior C Hockey League’s coach of the year.

He guided the team to a 21-19 record for its first winning season in five years. The 21 wins were a 16-game improvement over last season and surpassed the win total of the team’s previous three seasons combined.

“I really like it,” Wallace said of coaching. “I think it would be a great career and we’ll see where it takes me.

“I learned a ton in Windsor. We run similar stuff to what Boughie taught us and I’ve learned a lot paying attention to systems.”

Wallace is looking forward to getting back to the city and having a chance to catch up.

“I always said, if there was another place I would move out of Woodstock, it would be to Windsor,” Wallace said. “I enjoyed it down there. I like the city and people are always friendly.”

While many of his former teammates won’t be on hand, Wallace understands that’s also part of the game.

“For the most part, I still keep in touch with guy’s I’m close to like Welly (Eric Wellwood) and Henny (Adam Henrique),” Wallace said. “Everyone’s got lives and work and is out trying to make a living. You can’t just drop everything and just go hang out.”

The club lost five of its top six scorers after winning its first Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Western Conference titles.

With a few returning veterans scattered through the lineup, some younger players stepping up and a few tweaks to the roster, the Flyers are right back on top with the playoffs set to begin.

“If you would have told me that at the start of year or in the off-season, I would have said it would have been huge surprise,” Piroski said. “We were hoping to be competitive, but to get the type of team we got. This is a better team than we anticipated.”

The top-seeded Flyers open best-of-seven, quarter-final play at home Thursday against the Lambton Shores Predators while the fourth-seeded LaSalle Vipers open at home Wednesday against the Strathroy Rockets.

Leamington vs. Lambton Shores
The retooled Flyers actually finished this season with one-more win than last year’s championship team.

“We started off a little slow, but once the guys got together, we realized we have a lot of skill,” said Chris Scott, who led the Flyers with 26 goals and 54 points in 47 games. “After a bit, it didn’t seem too much of a surprise. Winning became a reoccurring thing and now, we’re hoping to keep it up.”

Kyle Quick and Mitch Amante picked up their offensive game and Tyler Duarte proved a solid pickup from Strathroy, Travis Campbell came over from the Sault Thunderbirds and defenceman Ryan Shipley was also brought in.

“I think we have a good team,” Piroski said. “I really like the makeup of our team. I think this team has learned from last year’s team.”

The experience of last year’s title run will only benefit the Flyers this time around.

“It’s a special breed that wins in the playoffs,” Piroski said. “It’s a battle, it’s a couple months long and you have to be prepared to win the little battles all over the ice every night.”

And while the defending champs will also carry a target in the playoffs, Scott believes there’s a lot more positives to being the defending champs than negatives.

“We try to focus on not getting too high and too low,” Scott said. “Everyone tries to dethrone the champions. We have so many experienced players and we just hope to use it to our advantage.”

LaSalle vs. Strathroy
The Flyers had to deal with roster turnover, but the Vipers were dealing with a makeover with the team starting the season with 15 new faces.

“We lost 15 players off our team, so you don’t know where you’re going to find those (replacement) players and how long going to take new players to get acclimated to league and team,” Vipers head coach and general manager Bill Bowler said.

“I’m happy with how our teams performance and how we competed all year.”

Korey Morgan returned to the club and had a solid season with 31 goals and 56 points.

“I think we’re balanced and on any given night any player can step up and have that big night and need that,” Bowler said. “You need that depth to win games.”

Chris Pignanelli returned after a season off and was outstanding while the club has veteran depth in Nathan Veres and Brett Langlois, who appears to be healthy for the playoffs.

“We didn’t finish as high as last year, but the compete’s there and we’re close as a team,” Vipers goalie Paolo Battisti said. “Everyone’s really came together.

“The regular season’s fun, but there’s nothing like the playoffs.”

Battisti gets the start in goal for Wednesday’s opener and Bowler said goaltending will be a key.

“The goaltending position is very important to every team at every level,” Bowler said. “Goaltending’s always the key in the playoffs.

“We worked hard to get home ice, so hopefully take advantage of that.”

jparker@windsorstar.com or Twitter @winstarparker

]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/flyers-aim-for-back-to-back-titles/feed0Flyers Matthew Opblinger, left, against St. Thomas Stars Blair Mincer in Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League action from Heinz Arena in Leamington, January 22, 2015. Tyler Duarte scored in overtime, Leamington won, 4-3. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)jpparker88Lancers aim for second straight CIS appearancehttp://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/lancers-look-for-second-straight-trip-to-cis-championship
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/sports/lancers-look-for-second-straight-trip-to-cis-championship#commentsWed, 25 Feb 2015 05:00:24 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=444669]]>Four straight trips to the OUA West Division final have been an education for the men’s hockey team at the University of Windsor.

It took three years for the Lancers to break through in that final and now the team is one step away from a second straight trip to the CIS championships and a chance to defend its Queen’s Cup title.

The Lancers open the best-of-three series final Wednesday against the Guelph Gryphons at South Windsor Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

“We’re not looking too far past Guelph, but we understand if we win this you get another opportunity,” Lancers fifth-year goaltender Parker Van Buskirk said.

“Losing (the West Division final) two years in a row (2012 and 2013) was tough. The first year, we were really young and didn’t know what to expect. The second year, we thought we knew how to win and got caught by surprise. We learned last year that you can’t take anyone for granted.”

The Lancers have no intention of taking the sixth-seeded Gryphons too lightly.

“They started off fairly slow and finished hot to get into sixth place and beat two good teams,” the 26-year-old Van Buskirk said of the Gryphons. “We’re not considering them an underdog. I think it’ll be a tough series.”

The Lancers faced eighth-seeded Brock in the first round and after dropping the opener, needed overtime in the third and deciding game to advance.

“We were the top seed on the verge of being swept,” said Van Buskirk, who is sporting a 2.52 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in the playoffs. “We’ve had four great years together and we’ve learned not to get too high or too low.

“As a team, we just take the next five minutes as a chunk of a game, see if we can win that and go from there.”

After a slow start to the season, the Gryphons closed out the regular season with eight wins in their final 11 games and went the distance in winning their first two playoffs series.

“They were one of the hottest teams from Christmas on,” Lancers head coach Kevin Hamlin said. “It’s crazy to think there’s a favourite in this series.

“They can use whatever they need for motivation, but to suggest one team is the favourite is ridiculous. I think it’s going to be a heck of a series.

“This Guelph team presents a huge challenge for us. They’re extremely well coached and as good as any team we’ve played all year.”

Hamlin has been impressed with his team’s effort to get to this point despite some adversity of its own.

“We’re in a no-win situation,” Hamlin said. “If we win a round, naysayers say we didn’t play well because we only won by one goal.

“There’s no question for us that this is about respect and letting people know that our program is for real and it’s no fluke. These guys have played all year long with a target on back as defending Queen’s Cup champions and for us to battle through every weekend like we have and earn the No. 1 seed in the province is pretty special.

“We’re not looking for a pat on the back or applause. For us, we know, that the gratification is hopefully in the end.”